Raven Hunter: Book 1 - Eruption
by ttsuperwholock
Summary: Raven Hunter is an ordinary girl... that is, until the mysterious Paranormal Society rescues her sister, mother, and herself from Raven's burning house and whisks her away to a magical school called the Academy. It's all strange, and who is Caractus, and why did he steal the unfixable object known as the Tesseract? (A book that I'm writing that needs read... reviews wanted!)
1. Prologue -and- Chapter I

Edinburgh, Scotland, 1976

The moonlight slanted through the dust-covered window, revealing a man hunting through old wooden crates and cardboard boxes. He came upon a large wooden chest with a thick metal padlock. The man ran his finger down the lock, and it clicked open. He heaved the lid open, coughing from the dust.

"At last," he whispered, staring at the artifact. "I've found you."

* * *

London, Canada, 2016

December 6th

"I hate snow," eleven-year-old Raven Hunter said, throwing her backpack on the floor of the hallway. She hung up her coat and kicked off her boots and socks. Raven had short brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a brown pinstriped suit jacket, blue shirt, and black yoga pants.

"Well, at least we're having a white Christmas!" Raven's eight-year-old sister, Amber, said happily. Amber had long brown hair that went past her shoulders and hazel eyes. She was wearing a fuzzy green onesie, as she had been home from school with a fever, which seemed to have gone down. She had a stuffed pig under her arm that she was clutching tightly. "Mum made fudge cookies, come on!" she grabbed Raven's hand and half-dragged, half-lead her into the kitchen.

After eating as many fudge cookies as they could, Raven and Amber lay down on the couch to watch TV. They had just turned on Netflix when the lights flickered and went out.

"Aww!" Amber moaned. "Now what do we do?"

"Dooooweeeeoooo," Raven sung softly. Amber giggled.

"Let's do something fun! How about-" "We are _not_ going outside. It's a blizzard out there!" Raven interrupted.

"Okay," Amber said. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Wait a second…" Raven said. "What's Mum doing if the power's out? No power means no internet, right?"

Raven shone a flashlight into her mother's office. Serena, for that was her mother's name, was nowhere to be seen.

"Creepy," Amber said.

"Feels like an episode of Doctor Who or something," Raven said. Doctor Who was a British science fiction TV show, and the girls favourite show. It was about time travel and aliens, and had been running for about fifty years.

"Yeah," Amber agreed.

The wind howled as Raen and Amber searched their house.

"Amber!" Raven called. Amber ran down the hallway to her sister, who was looking at the open attic door in the roof. The collapsable ladder was down and Raven shone the flashlight up. She gulped.

"Allons-y," she whispered, and climbed up the ladder.

Raven and Amber were relieved to find their mother searching for candles in the attic.

"Look at this!" Amber held up an old silver locket.

"That was my Grandma's," Serena said.

"What about this one?" Raven held up a braided leather bracelet.

"That was my great-aunt's," Serena said. "You can have it if you'd like, it's not very old."

"Thanks," Raven said, slipping it onto her wrist.

"Ah-ha!" Serena held up some white candles. "Let's go back downstairs and light these." Serena and Amber climbed back down, but Raven was distracted by a sinister hissing sound. She made her way over to some large boxes…

… and watched as they exploded into flames.


	2. Chapter II

Paranormal Society Headquarters

December 6th, 2016

"We have a king cobra loose - reports are flickering between shadow and volcanic - it's just been confirmed - we have a _volcanic_ king cobra on the loose - a lockdown team is being dispatched-" Thomas Ryall took out his earpiece, despite being told repeatedly not to. It was getting annoying, somebody constantly yelling in his ear. Being a Locater meant that all he had to do was pinpoint where a 'soul animal', as the invisible beasts from another dimension were called, had escaped from the Elemental Planes to. Of course, Tom was a Seer, someone who could see the invisible soul animals, and he had gone to the Academy, just as everybody else in the Society had. He was twenty years old, and had left the Academy three years previously.

"Ryall! Why isn't your earpiece in?" his boss, Ms. Helen Rampston, yelled. "You don't want me to get someone to put it straight into your head, do you?" Tom sighed, and put the annoying piece of technology back in his ear.

"The cobra had been tracked to London, Ontario, in Canada - the street has yet to be found-"

* * *

London, Canada

December 6th, 2016

Raven stared as the flaming red and orange cobra rose up from the flames, hissing and spitting sparks.

"What-"

"Get down!" somebody collided with her, and suddenly she couldn't breathe or move before she landed hard on pavement.

"Who-" Raven said before a gloved hand was clamped over her mouth.

"No questions. Do you see that?" the man pointed at the cobra's head poking through the burning roof. Raven quickly nodded. He turned away, and put a finger on his headpiece.

"Boss, we've got a Seer-" Raven didn't know what a 'Seer' was, but she took this opportunity to look at her saviour. He was about twenty-five years old and had short brown hair and green eyes. He was wearing an all black outfit, not unlike the one Hiccup wears in How to Train Your Dragon 2. At least, that's the closest thing Raven could compare it to, as it was really strange. "Said Seer's sister may be- okay. Yes ma'am." he took his finger off the earpiece and turned back to Raven. "Let's go, kid,"

"Go where?" her question was muffled by the gloved hand, but the man knew what she was asking.

"You'll see," he said mysteriously, hauling her onto her feet. "We're not evil or anything, if that's what you're thinking," that was indeed what Raven had been thinking. "I can't tell you my first name, you know, secrecy and stuff, but I'm Agent Powell. You are…" Raven gestured to his hand, still clamped over her mouth. "Oh, yeah, sorry," Powell took his hand off Raven's mouth.

"Raven," Raven said.

"Huh. Cool name. C'mon, we need to get to the jet," Powell grabbed Raven's upper arm and lead her towards what seemed to be thin air.

"You have a jet?" Raven asked.

"An _invisible_ jet," Powell said. "Like Wonder Woman,"

"You like DC? Suddenly I don't like you anymore," Raven said jokingly.

"You actually liked me?" Powell joked back. "And I don't like DC, I was just seeing if you were cool,"

"I am the coolest person I know," Raven said.

"I don't doubt that," Powell said. "Now stop talking, or we will most likely be burned to death," Raven shut her mouth.

 _Wow, Powell, that wasn't morbid at all,_ Raven thought. A hole opening in thin air disrupted Raven's train of thought. There really was an invisible jet.

"You have an invisible jet…" Raven said, awestruck.

"Yup," Powell said, stepping onto the ramp. "Come on! Your mom and sister are onboard already," Raven looked back at her burning house, thinking about whether or not this was a good decision, and stepped into the jet.


	3. Chapter III

Somewhere Over Ontario

December 7th, 2016

The jet climbed higher and higher, on a steep incline. Raven and Powell were strapped in on the left side of the plane, Amber, Serena, and another agent, Agent Greer, were on the right side.

"Where exactly are we going?" Serena asked. The engines weren't that loud, so they could talk pretty normally without hindrance.

"It's hard to explain," Greer said. Greer was older than Powell by quite a few years, being about thirty-two. She had long ginger hair, hazel eyes, and a thick Scottish accent. Greer reminded Raven vividly of the fictional character Amy Pond, not just in appearance and accent but in attitude as well. "Very hard. Just wait until we get there and we can explain things in detail." Lightning flashed outside the jet, and thunder boomed. Rain pattered against the windshield and back window. The plane shook violently, throwing everyone slightly to the left. If they hadn't been strapped in, Amber, Serena, and Greer would have been thrown across the plane.

"This is slightly terrifying," Raven said.

"Slightly is an understatement!" Amber yelled.

"Sorry! We're just passing through a thunderstorm, nothing to worry about," Agent Ramos, the pilot, called.

"This is normal that an interdimensional portal would cause atmospheric disturbances," Powell said.

"An interdimensional portal?" Raven asked curiously. "Like from Doctor Who or something?" Powell laughed.

"Not quite,"

"Changing dimensions in three…" Ramos called.

"TELL MY MOTHER I LOVED HER!" Amber randomly yelled.

"I'm right here," Serena said.

"It's a movie quote, Mum," Amber explained.

"And an overused one, too," Raven added.

"Two…"

"You might want to hold on to something," Greer advised. Raven tightened her already tight grip on the seat.

"One." the jet shook violently and Raven's stomach lurched, making her feel seasick, but she was quickly distracted by the view from the window on the back of the jet. The storm had disappeared, replaced by clear purple skies. Wait a second, purple? Raven did a double take. The sky was indeed purple instead of blue.

"Um…" Raven turned to Powell. "Why is the sky purple?" Powell laughed. Obviously he got asked this question a lot.

"It's a whole other dimension, do you really expect the sky to be the same colour?" he said.

"Sorry, that was a stupid question," Raven apologized.

"No, it's not stupid," Greer said. "You have three people here that know all the answers to your questions, and you encounter something that is questionable, so you question it,"

"I've never heard someone use the word 'question' so many times in a sentence before," Amber said.

"We're approaching the Academy," Ramos said.

"The academy?" Serena asked.

"You'll get all your answers in about," Greer checked her watch. "Two and a quarter minutes."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Amber asked.

"Two and a quarter minutes," Raven said. Amber laughed and Powell tried and failed to hold in giggles.

"Actually, just under two minutes," Greer corrected.

"This is going to be the longest two minutes of my life," Raven said.

"One and three-quarters of a minute," Greer corrected again. Raven fixated on her right thumbnail. She bit it nervously.

"One and a half minutes," Greer said.

"Can you stop that?" Powell asked. "It's just making it feel longer,"

"Fine,"

"Um, Powell, why are we flying straight towards a mountain?" Raven asked, emphasizing the 'mountain' part.

"Don't worry, we're just entering by the back door," Powell reassured her.

"Your back door is a solid rock face?" Raven asked, slightly panicking.

"Well, not a solid rock face," he said.

"Just tell me that we're not going to die," Raven said.

"We're not going to die," Powell replied.

"Okay," Raven said.

We're not going to die, Raven thought, as the cliff drew closer. We're not going to die, we're not going to- she screamed as they hit the mountain and went right through it. The jet slowed down when they entered the hangar, and there was a jolt as they hit the metal flooring.

"Sorry, just slipped out," she explained, to no one in particular.

"You're not the first," Greer shot a 'I mean you' look at Powell, who laughed nervously, obviously wanting to avoid this conversation.

"Alright, so, just hold down the button and unclip your seatbelts," Powell said, giving Greer a death glare before demonstrating with his own. The two doors at the back of the plane slid sideways and a ramp slid out, hitting the ground with a dull thunk. Raven and Serena got their seatbelts unbuckled easily, but Amber's got stuck and Serena had to help her. Finally, they all disembarked from the jet. The ramp slid back into the plane and the doors slid shut again.

"So, the elevator is over here," Powell started walking over to a large white triangle in the ground with three pillars at each of the three corners. A blue stripe ran along the edges of the triangle. Powell stood by a control panel while Greer stood in the middle.

"What are you waiting for?" Greer asked the three others, who were hesitant in getting on. Raven stepped on, and Amber and Serena followed.

"This doesn't look like a normal elevator," Amber said.

"That's because it's not a normal elevator," Greer said.

"Going up!" Powell said, pressing a blue button. Guard rails slid out of the floor and clicked into place before the whole white area of the floor shot upwards. They flew upwards through a dark tunnel for less than a second before emerging in a humongous, colourful entrance hall. There were two big double doors at one end and a red carpet leading from the doors to the elevator, in the middle of the hall, and on the other side from the elevator to a large staircase leading to a balcony. A huge crystal chandelier hung above the grand staircase and a relatively normal-looking door lay at the top of the stairs. A golden plaque on the door read 'Headmaster's Office'. The walls were made of a dazzling white stone that reflected light, making the room even brighter. Light shone through large windows on the other two sides of the hall, and there were sofas, chairs, coffee tables, and televisions everywhere. Above, the roof was made from strange glowing crystals of various sizes, shapes, and colours that all shone brightly, basking the hall in colourful light as well as the natural light from the windows. There were people of all ages from what looked about seven or eight up to twenty-one or twenty-two, and the occasional older person, doing various activities, some of which Raven recognized, some of which were alien to her.

"Woah…" Raven was at a loss for words.

"This is the Grand Hall," Powell said, spreading his arms out. "The main room in the Academy."

"It's so big!" Amber exclaimed.

"I have to go," Greer said. "You might see me again sometime, but it's unlikely,"

"Bye," Raven said. They stepped off the platform, but Greer pushed some buttons and went down again. As soon as she disappeared, the hole was covered again by another platform that was just so that nobody fell down the shaft.

"The Headmaster's office is up here," Powell lead them up the large staircase to the door Raven had seen earlier. Powell opened the door, and they walked inside.


	4. Chapter IV

The Elemental Plane of Water

December 7th, 2016 (Earth Time)

The small lemon shark knew something was wrong. He didn't quite know what, yet, but it would be best to alert Griskos just the same. He quickly swam away from the seal he had been watching, shouting to a nearby mako shark to take his place. The lemon shark swam through winding tunnels up to Griskos' lair, shaking nervously. He had never personally seen Griskos, but he had heard stories from a tiger shark that had gone up there before. He floated outside Griskos' cave for a moment before flicking his tail and swimming inside.

 _Why are you here?_ Griskos' voice echoed in his mind. Krakens were telepathic, but it wasn't the raspy, menacing voice that the tiger shark had imitated. Griskos was almost five times bigger than the little lemon shark and had grey and light red, almost pink, skin. He had a thick, sturdy tail that split into many tentacles that the lemon shark couldn't count. He had two thick front legs with webbing, but Griskos' face was imprinted in his mind forever. He had two small serpent-like yellow eyes and his mouth was filled with teeth, at least three rows of them. Small red tentacles grew from his chin, and spikes bordered his head.

"Th-the seal, my lord Griskos," he started.

 _The title is not necessary,_ Griskos said.

"Ye-yes, my lo-Griskos," the lemon shark caught himself just in time. "Th-the seal is f-fading. I-I fear it might b-break soon,"

 _What is your name?_ Griskos asked, all of a sudden. The lemon shark was caught off guard.

"Z-Zibdos," Zibdos said.

 _Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Zibdos. I shall check the seal, and if you are indeed correct, you shall alert the merfolk._ Zibdos watched in awe as Griskos swam down another tunnel. Him, a lowly lemon shark, asked to possibly alert the _merfolk_? This was unreal! Zibdos shook his head to clear his thoughts before dashing after Griskos.

The Academy

December 7th, 2016 (Earth Time)

Tall bookshelves lined with books of various size and colour covered two of the five walls. Two other held shelves with various items, some of which Raven recognised as staplers, extension cables, Kinder eggs, and other things. The final wall held the wooden door through which they had come. A large desk stood in front of the 'tip' of the pentagonal room. Atop the desk was a large perch that a stormy grey falcon was sitting on. A few books were stacked on the desk and there were two neat stacks of paper next to an open laptop computer hooked up to a large monitor. An iPad sat on top of a large sketchbook on a small side table. Four chairs lay in front of the desk. The woman sitting at the desk had long dark brown hair up in a ponytail and her blue eyes were fixated on the screen in front of her as she typed furiously. When she saw that they had entered, she held up a finger, as if to say 'one moment', typed the last couple of words, clicked a couple of things with her mouse, and closed the laptop.

"These are our new students?" she inquired.

"Yes, ma'am," Powell said.

"I'm giving you a day off, Powell. Be back at work on December 9th." with a "Yes, ma'am," Powell left the room. She looked up at Raven, Amber, and Serena.

"Sit," she said, gesturing to the four empty seats. They sat. "I am Professor White and the headmaster of the Academy. You probably have a lot of questions, so I shall answer them. You probably know of the Prime Material Plane. The Prime Material Plane is the 'normal' Plane of existence, where you and I would come from. After the Prime Material Plane are the six Elemental Planes of Water, Fire, Earth, Ice, Air, and Shadow. The Elemental Plane of Air is also sometimes referred to as the Elemental Plane of Storm, as animals from higher up in the Plane of Air turn stormy grey instead of golden yellow. There are unique inhabitants of each Plane, such as displacer beasts, merfolk, bulettes, azers, aarakocra, and remorhazes, and there are also the inhabitants that change slightly or drastically to live on each Plane, such as lions, falcons, dolphins, bees, wolves, and spiders. Newt here is a falcon from the Elemental Plane of Storm, as I talked about earlier," she stroked the falcon's feathers, and Newt screeched loudly, causing Amber and Raven to cover their ears. "Now, sometimes 'soul animals' as we call them, escape through harmless cracks across the Planes to the Material Plane, but because of the differences between the Planes, they become invisible. Some people, such as you," she gestured to Raven and Amber. "Can see the invisible soul animals. We have discovered that Seers, as we called them-"

"Sorry, who's 'we'?" Serena interrupted.

"The Paranormal Society," White said. "Now, Seers also usually have magical abilities."

"Like from Harry Potter!" Amber exclaimed.

"Yes and no. Our 'magic' is a little bit different, as you will see. Soul animals can sense the Seers magical abilities, and tend to be attracted to them. That is why the volcanic king cobra came after you two. Does that answer all of your questions?" White asked.

"What about me?" Serena asked.

"I don't believe you are a Seer," White said.

"But I can see him," she pointed at Newt.

"Because we are no longer strictly on the Material Plane anymore," White said.

"Oh. So I'm going to have to go home?" Serena asked.

"No, you can still stay here, but it will be rather like living in a hotel rather than a school," White said. "We will rebuild your house, in the meantime, and because we can use magic as well as technology, it will be almost exactly the same."

"How long will we be here for?" Raven asked.

"Seven years. Of course, you can go home on March break, Christmas holidays, and summer holidays," White said.

"Seven years, like Harry Potter," Raven connected.

"That's about the extent of our relations to Harry Potter," White said. "Each year has a different colour that is referred to with gemstones - ruby, amber, emerald, amethyst, sapphire, quartz, and onyx. This way, you can see the year that somebody is in by the colour of their uniform,"

"There's a uniform?" Amber asked.

"More like ten or eleven outfits that you can choose from every day," White explained.

"That's a relief," Raven commented.

"You're taking this rather well," White said.

"Well, what would you like me to do, scream?" Raven asked.

"Preferably not," White said.

"I thought you'd say that," Raven said.

"Well, you should probably be shown to your rooms," White said. She turned to the falcon. "Newt, please show them to their rooms." Newt screeched and flew over to the door. "Just follow the falcon. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do. Putting hundreds of years of work into a computer takes a long time."


	5. Chapter V

K'ol City, Elemental Plane of Water

December 7th, 2016 (Earth Time)

Commander Laiken was floating outside the door to Prince Tamesis' quarters when the seal blew. A two hundred kilometer tall pillar of superheated water and steam exploded on the horizon out of R'hai. A small lemon shark burst through the door of the palace.

"ThesealisgoingtoexplodeandGriskossentmeandwe'reallgoingtodieandjustHELP!" the lemon shark yelled. Prince Tamesis opened the door of his quarters and swam out onto the staircase.

"Laiken, get your best men and go investigate the seal. Anahita, calm this lemon shark down." he turned to Laiken. "Be careful, Laiken. If he has indeed escaped, do not engage in combat. Retreat immediately." Laiken nodded and swam off towards the soldiers quarters.

Cyraeni was eating squid when his commander swam through the door. He had two swords strapped to his waist and leather-and-blue-dragon-scale armour. Cyraeni had always thought Commander Laiken was attractive, but now was not the time to think about that. Laiken obviously had something urgent on his mind.

"Cyraeni, Kaerius, Laekces, and Nineve, I want you to get your weapons and armour. We need to check the seal," Cyraeni put down the squid and strapped her swords to her belt. She was already wearing her leather-and-iron armour, as she always was, so she swam over to near the door. Nineve was close behind.

"So, the boys are slow… again." Nineve said. Cyraeni laughed. Laekces raced into the chamber.

"Kae can't find his belt," Laekces said.

"Why is it that every time we have a break, Kae takes off his belt and armour and loses them?" Cyraeni asked.

"I don't know," Laekces answered. "Oh, _here_ he is." Kae swam into the room.

"Stables. Now. I have something to attend to," Laiken dashed out of the chamber.

"Well, that wasn't vague at all," Cyraeni said, causing the other three to laugh.

"C'mon, we've got a job to do," Laekces said and they all swam out of the room.

Atop their preferred mounts, the four were rejoined by Laiken, on the back of a particularly large great white shark named Zydras. Cyraeni was riding a small but fast dolphin named Umaria, Nineve was riding a leopard seal named Claetus, Laekces was on a hammerhead shark named Jaeger, and Kaerius was on an orca named Basilas. They approached R'hai with caution, dismounting at the entrance. Zydras, Umaria, Claetus, Jaeger, and Basilas followed close behind the five merfolk. When they reached the seal room, named L'karai, Cyraeni found pieces of the seal scattered across the room.

"How did this happen?" Laekces asked. "I thought the seal was impenetrable,"

"It is," Nineve said. "At least, it was."

"What do you think, Kae?" Cyraeni asked. "Kae?" Kaerius had mysteriously disappeared from the room.

"Where'd he go?" Nineve asked.

"Be on your guard," Laiken warned. "We don't know what could be in here," Cyraeni drew her sword and swam over to the seal. It looked like a bottomless pit, but Cyraeni knew it wasn't.

"Where-" _shk_. Cyraeni turned around to see Nineve lying dead with a cut across her neck.

"I vote we leave. Now," Laekces said.

"I second that," Cyraeni said.

"I approve of your decision," Laiken said, swinging himself onto Zydras. Cyraeni climbed onto Umaria and Laekces did the same onto Jaeger. Claetus and Basilas followed close as the three remaining members of the team left R'hai in a hurry.

"Prince Tamesis, we have lost two members of our team," Commander Laiken said. Laiken, Cyraeni, and Laekces had gone straight to the prince after returning and were now in Tamesis' throne room.

"And what of the seal?" the prince inquired.

"Shattered," Laiken said.

"This is bad… very bad," Tamesis said. "I shall inform my father of this immediately," the prince left his throne and swam into a side hallway that lead into the king's throne room. King Aenon preferred to deal with only the most pressing matters and let Prince Tamesis deal with the rest.

"Let's just hope King Aenon can deal with this problem before it deals with us." Laekces said.

"Morbid," Cyraeni commented, but she was thinking the same thing.

"There's nothing to worry about," Laiken said. "King Aenon will sort this out."

 _Hopefully…_ Cyraeni thought.

The Academy

December 7th, 2016 (Earth Time)

Raven lay on top of the red comforter, staring up at the ceiling. The song Disloyal Order of Water Buffaloes by Fall Out Boy was playing from her iPod hooked up to a speaker system on a desk. Raven was trying to make sense of the last day in her head. Her room in the Academy was painted white and had large lamps in the corners. A closet was built into the left wall and shelves lined the right wall. A large flatscreen TV sat on the wall in the other room with an XBox One and a Wii U hooked up to it. A large couch and two chairs sat in that room too. Professor White had somehow been able to furnish her room with her belongings from her old house.

Raven's iPhone dinged and she reached behind her head to pick it up off the headboard. She pressed the home button to unlock it, as you had to with the new update.

 _Amber:_ Hi

Raven texted a quick response.

 _Raven:_ Hey

Amber quickly texted back.

 _Amber:_ What's up?

 _Raven:_ Nothing. What's up with you?

 _Amber:_ Same. Kinda bored.

 _Raven:_ Me too.

 _Amber:_ ...soooooo

 _Raven:_ So what?

 _Amber:_ So can we do something?

 _Raven:_ Like what?

 _Amber:_ We could explore the academy or something…

 _Raven:_ I don't know if that would be a good idea…

 _Amber:_ Come on, it'll be fun!

 _Raven:_ Okay…

 _Amber:_ Meet you in the big hall-y thing in 5 mins!

Raven put her iPhone in her pocket and slid off the bed. Her socks were lying next to the door, but she didn't want to put them on again, so she grabbed a pair of sandals out of the closet and put them on. She opened the door and slipped out in the silent hallway towards the Grand Hall.


	6. Chapter VI

The Academy

December 7th, 2016 (Earth Time)

Raven collapsed onto her bed, exhausted. Her and Amber had planned to spend the afternoon exploring the Academy, but they got distracted when they found a giant ball pit, and then they got lost trying to get back to their rooms. Her phone dinged loudly and she groaned before picking it up to read the incoming text.

 _Mum:_ What exactly were you doing that made you so tired?

Raven texted back.

 _Raven:_ We found a ball pit.

 _Mum:_ Oh.

 _Mum:_ Goodnight.

 _Raven:_ 'night.

Raven changed into her pyjamas and lay her glasses on the headboard before getting into her bed and falling straight to sleep.

The Academy

December 8th, 2016 (Earth Time)

Raven was awakened by the sound of a loud crash in the hall. Somebody must have broken something. She rolled over and turned on her iPhone to check the time. The light hurt her eyes in the darkness. It was 2:53 AM! Who was walking around the halls at three o'clock in the morning? She slipped out from under the covers and put on her sandals. Raven left her phone on the headboard, as she was just checking who was outside.

She opened the door silently and tiptoed into the hallway. Her footsteps were muffled by the carpet as she made her way along the hall, which was dimly lit by lamps on the walls. She thought whoever broke something must have gone into one of the rooms and was about to go back to her room when she heard somebody having a conversation in whispers. Her curiosity got the better of her and she creeped over to the corner. Raven peered around the corner and saw two people, but she couldn't see much more. The one seemed to be very worked up about something. Raven made to go back to her room, but one of the people saw her and started walking towards her. She quickly started walking back to her room, but the figure caught up with her.

"What are you doing out in the middle of the night?" he asked. Now that he was closer, Raven could see that he had short blond hair and blue eyes. He was wearing pyjamas and was about an inch shorter than Raven.

"I could ask you the same thing," Raven said.

"Fair enough. I'm Solace, but you can call me Sol. Most people do," Sol said.

"I'm Raven," Raven said. "And if you want to know, I'm out here because that big crash woke me up,"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Sol said sheepishly. "I was just discussing something with my friend."

"So… I should probably get back to sleep…" Raven said.

"Yeah, sure, bye," Sol said.

"Bye…?" Raven said awkwardly as Sol started walking the opposite direction down the hallway. After a couple seconds, she turned and walked back to her room, falling back to sleep as soon as she reached her bed again.

Four hours later, Raven awoke to find a text message on her phone. Just as it had at three o'clock, the light stung her eyes.

 _(unknown number)_ : Hello, Ms. Hunter, it is Professor White. Please come to my office. I have already sent a message to your sister.

Raven rolled out of the bed and went to the closet, where she found a variety of different outfits in various shades of red. She selected a yoga-pants-and-leather-jacket combo. The pants and boots were black and the shirt was red. The jacket was black with red along the edges. She also found a pair of aviator goggles, which she strapped to her head. She attached earbuds to her iPhone and put them in her ears before leaving her room. The song _Boulevard of Broken Dreams_ by Green Day played as she made her way along the hallway.

" _I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known. Don't know where it goes, but it's only me, and I walk alone."_

 _Boulevard of Broken Dreams_ brought tears to Raven's eyes. It always made her sad, but she didn't quite know why. She liked the song anyway, just like a couple of other sad songs that were included on her iPhone. The playlist she was listening to at the moment was a playlist she had titled 'Sadness'. Raven was feeling kind of sad, of course, her house burned down and now she was somewhere unfamiliar.

" _I walk this empty street, on the boulevard of broken dreams, where the city sleeps and I'm the only one and I walk alone."_

Before she knew it, Raven was standing before the door to Professor White's office. She grabbed the handle, and pushed.

The Void

After escaping the seal in the Elemental Plane of Water, the malevolent entity that had been trapped there had been thrust into the space between planes, or 'The Void'. The Void was timeless, infinite, and very hard to get in or out of. For a lesser being, that was. The entity broke a hole in the fabric of reality into the Material Plane, but because of the time difference created by plane-traveling, it ended up there a couple months later. The entity turned itself invisible, repaired the hole in space and time, and went searching for a suitable host.

The Paranormal Society Headquarters

December 8th, 2016 (Earth Time)

"Ma'am! We have detected a hole in the fabric of time and space." Agent Rampston turned to the other agent.

"Where and when?" she demanded.

"New York City, April the sixteenth, 2017," the agent read off the screen. "Energy levels declining… it's gone now."

"April the sixteenth… well, whatever it is, we're going to have to wait until April to find out more. Put in a notice for April the fifteenth, 2017, so that we don't forget of this occurrence." Rampston ordered.

"Yes, ma'am."

The Academy

December 8th, 2016 (Earth Time)

"Put this on," White placed two plain silver bracelets on the desk. "One each."

"What is it?" Amber asked. Raven and Amber were sitting in chairs across from White.

"Your Academy timetables and communication devices," White said. Raven snapped one around her left wrist.

"How does it work?" Raven asked.

"Just tap it to open the holographic display and then it's pretty straightforward from there." White said. Raven tapped the bracelet and a 3-D display blinked into existence.

"Wow…" Raven said. "Cool!" she tapped it again and the hologram disappeared.

"Your classes will be starting today, so I suggest you check your timetables. I have placed you in almost all the same classes, as I assume you would prefer, but have chosen some different ones as well as I doubt you would like to be together every waking hour of every day." White said.

"You assumed correctly," Raven said. "Even sisters get tired of each other sometimes."

"I know all about that, my bro-" White stopped herself. "Anyway, you will find a map on your holo-bracelet, so you should probably get to class. You wouldn't want to be late, now, would you?"


End file.
